IDF’s prepares for ‘Day After’

IDF has begun preparing for the day after the disengagement. Senior IDF official told Ynet preparations’ focus on troops’ downsizing and technological means that are able to identify tunnel mining and distant targets

A senior IDF official told Ynet the military’s preparations for the day after the disengagement are underway at full steam.

Currently, the official said they are experimenting with a system, capable of locating suspects, photographing them and transferring the picture to a control room; the system’s response includes an ability to receive open fire orders from a distance.

“In the area of the border fence, technological means and a data-collecting system will be installed, enabling us to pick-up on any threat and deal with it from a distance,” an officer told Ynetnews.

The senior officer added that immediately after the pullout only a third of all Gaza Strip troops would be relocated back into Israel,

while at a later stage, more soldiers may be relocated, thereby leaving about half of the amount of soldiers who are currently there.

In a few months, the existing IDF posts, scattered throughout the Strip, in between the various settlements will be transferred into Israeli territory and become the first line of defense to prevent terrorists from penetrating into the residencies located around the Strip.

'See-shoot' system - second line of defense

This line of defense will be reinforced with a new technological system, called: “sees-shoots” that enables to examine all threats in the area from afar, without the risk of sending soldiers into the area.

The picture will be transferred into a central control room, and if the man is identified as a terrorist, fire from a distance will be operated against him, on command from the control room.

“We want to allow Palestinians to live in the best way in their area, at the same time we wish to decrease the number of wounded among us,” said the senior official.

“Our preparations are based on a working assumption that we are leaving Gaza for good,” the officer explained, “while assuming that the relative quiet will be preserved. Recently, we have also been performing different maintenance procedures on the existing fence, reinforcing it. Next to it, we will station different technological means, including means that can identify tunnel-mining attempts in Palestinian territory,” he added.

“The infrastructure we’re establishing fits about 70 percent of the forces that are located there today, but some of these infrastructures will be temporary.”

We will close down the strip as late as possible

The officer said they want to shut the area down as late as possible “perhaps days or weeks before the beginning of the eviction.”

In light of the expected increased commute of tens of thousands of citizens who plan be arriving to Gush Katif, Gaza's largest settlement bloc, during Pesach and Independence Day, the officer said the military plans to limit the amount of visitors.

However, he would not specify if and when the military plans to prevent the traffic of citizens into the Gush.